Letters to the Editor for April 29

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2008 at 12:01 AM

Readers share their views on lawmakers, plastic bags and more.

Lawmakers should stop wasting valuable time

No bull? Is someone pulling my leg? A Florida Senate committee is sheepish about debating a bill in front of schoolchildren about banning replica bull testicles on vehicles (The Sun, April 18)? Do they think schoolchildren don't know about such things?

Still, they don't mind wasting time on such foolishness, but they will cut school funding and programs without a second thought?

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said, "I don't think this is frivolous." Really? The next day he was quoted, in a story about changing the state song, that "some lawmakers are worried that they would look frivolous for debating the state song while more pressing problems like budget cuts loom."

It takes one to know one! I thought Republicans were in favor of limited government? Sen. King, who had a pair of the bull testicles in his truck, had the right remedy for the "problem" (though he doesn't seem to realize it). When his wife told him to get rid of them, he did so. That's all it takes. No time wasted on legislative committees and debate, and maybe the money saved could be put back into education.

Robert R. Sherman,Gainesville

Careless debris burning is dangerously illegal

It's dry as a desert these days. Still, just this past week two of my neighbors were burning debris piles with no water supply nearby and no heavy equipment; one within 100 feet of three above-ground LP tanks. They had not one iota of concern for anyone else's homes or property.

I think they're idiots, but I think Division of Forestry and local officials are idiots, too. There is no routine broadcast warning us all not to burn; no obvious efforts are being made to break offenders of such bad habits. Just long sob stories of how thinly stretched they are when fires happen and property and lives are damaged.

People are not going to change what they do until they are made to change. Habitual burning like my neighbors do is wrong, illegal and crazy. When someone like me calls to complain about smoke and possible danger, the calls should be acted upon forcefully. Examples must be made of the offenders.

Toni Medford,Gainesville

Plastic bags present a vexing problem

Phil Emmer's April 20 Speaking Out was very timely, coming just a few days before Earth Day. Yes! There is no doubt that plastic is a polluting problem. Maybe there are a few solutions that won't eradicate the problem completely, but might help a little.

Plastic bottles, for instance, are every place you look in our ecologically-minded lovely city. In some cities grocery stores have instituted a deposit return for them. I don't know how successful it's been, but it might be worth looking into.

Also, in the city proper, there are no trash receptacles on any of the corners. Many residents walk around sucking on their juice or water bottles and when they are finished toss them anywhere. Taking home the empty bottle doesn't seem to be an option, but maybe if there was some place to throw them, at least they would be contained.

I have cloth bags I can take to market and avoid plastic, but there is a problem. I have two large dogs, and picking up poop with a paper towel doesn't work. I don't think my neighbors would appreciate dog poop on their lawns, no matter how polluting plastic is.

I wonder how San Francisco, where plastic bags are no longer available in grocery stores, solved that problem. Unfortunately, when asked if I want paper or plastic, in respect for my neighbors and the walking public, I say, "plastic, please."

Doris E. Gennaro,Gainesville

Blaming God is another outrageous Bush lie

George Bush may prove to be the smartest president we've ever had. Who else would have thought to blame the entirety of his incompetence and crimes against humanity on God?

When his own father warned him not to invade Iraq, Bush informed him he got his instructions from a higher power. If we use Bush's logic, this hideous president's entire seven-year reign of ineptitude, which has literally brought America to its knees, can be blamed on God. Is God really misleading Bush or has America fallen for yet another outrageous lie?

America loves a lie, the more outrageous the better. Half of America still believes Saddam had something to do with 9/11. Bin Laden was a religious fanatic and Saddam was a gangster; these guys hated each other. And when the lawyer for the Swift Boat Captains Against Kerry, while helping destroy war hero Kerry's presidential bid, had to resign for conflict of interest because he was also George Bush's attorney, nobody paid attention. The lie was outrageous enough.

Since Bush is still in power, perhaps he does enjoy the favor of a higher power. But considering George Bush's level, where everything else is up, perhaps we should re-examine the definition of higher power.

Rudy Young,Hawthorne

Rural paradise lost

Robert Richardson (April 20) can't see the forest for the trees. Development bypassing the zoning process with direct amendments to a comprehensive plan is inconsistent with Florida's Growth Management Act.

This "rural" project proposes housing densities twice that which exist in Trenton. Special Area Plans averaging one residence per acre permits a minimum five-fold increase in housing density.

Initiating such developments with septic tanks is ludicrous. The USDA says that, "In areas that have a concentration of homes, the contamination of ground water is a hazard because of poor filtration in septic tank absorption fields."

Golf courses are inappropriate on soils which the USDA finds have "severe limitations for recreational uses." Paved runways, taxiways, roads, golf cart lanes and high density roofing are inconsistent with preserving high recharge areas for the aquifer which supplies Florida's drinking water and the flow of our springs.

The developer's hype of additional jobs and customers for Gilchrist County is inconsistent with their own traffic study which shows 80 percent of the generated traffic entering Alachua County.

The developer's ballyhooed tax revenues are over twice that of our property appraiser. Both ignore possible homestead exemptions and Amendment One portability.

Gilchrist is currently ranked the eighth best rural county in the nation in which to reside. The developers want to cash in; retiring farmers want to cash out. One does not preserve a rural paradise by urbanizing it.

Steve Gladin,Trenton

A scholarship with a catch

I voted "no" on the Bright Futures scholarship poll, meaning I am against putting an upper-income cut-off. However, my "no" vote has a condition.

Students who receive this scholarship that are largely capable of paying for their education or having their education paid for, should be required to donate their scholarship to the non-profit organization of their choice. Especially local non-profits for children, the environment and wildlife.

Missie Curtis,Gainesville

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